Little Slide Rooter

Grabow with a solid inning, so that's something.

The cameraman sure thought that was outta here.

Could this be the start of the 1st fake rally of 2011?

I can't quite tell if the Pirates have a dangerous young offense or if Dempster was just bad today.

I think we've seen enough of Mr. Dempster this afternoon.

Come on Pena, put the wind back in our sails.

Demp just went October 2007 on us.

I know we talk like we pillage the Pirates regularly, but aside from Aramis, we havnt exactly loaded up on them, unless Matt Lawton, John Grabow, and Tom Gorzalanny count as pillaging.

Random fact time: I was listening to The Score about a week back, and Tyler Colvin was on, and apparently, he was the guy who told Demp that he was tipping his pitches, which lead to his trademark glove twist.

I can't wait for McCutchen to be a Cub in a few short years.

If I want occasionally funny baseball parody, ill stay local and stick with The Heckler.

In.

I do think that the Cubs should be taken seriously. They may not have the star power of the Cards or Brewers, but they are more well balanced all the way through. Even the 2B situation, they will likley be better than most 8 hitters in the NL, and if we are in it come July, don't be surprised to see Hendry do the one thing he does well and pull a mid season rabbit out of a had in a trade. A lot of things need to go right, but I don't see any of the NL Central teams being good enough to leave us in their dust, and keep in mind, all 3 of the relevant teams in the division are dealing with significant injuries.

So tell us, when October comes, do they roll over and play dead for 3 quick games, or go deeper into the playoffs?

AL East: Red Sox AL Central: White Sox AL West: Rangers AL WC: Yankees NL East: Phillies NL Central: Brewers NL West: Giants NL WC: Braves ALDS Red Sox over Rangers Yankees over White Sox ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees NLDS Phillies over Giants Brewers over Braves NLCS Phillies over Brewers WC: Phillies over Red Sox The thing I really dont get is how many people chose the Braves over the Phils. Braves definitely are a good young team, but have their share of question marks such as Tommy Hanson and the health of Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson. Even without Utley and Lidge, that Phillies rotation is just tough to beat, and when June-July roll around, and Utley isnt back yet, they'll go out and get what they need. Who knows, maybe Aramis Ramirez would fit them nicely.

Seems like nows the time that everyones doing it, so lets see how everyone stacks up AL East: Red Sox AL Central: White Sox AL West: Rangers AL WC: Yankees NL East: Phillies NL Central: Brewers NL West: Giants NL WC: Braves ALDS Red Sox over Rangers Yankees over White Sox ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees NLDS Phillies over Giants Brewers over Braves NLCS Phillies over Brewers WC: Phillies over Red Sox

Keep in mind that was the offseason we traded DeRosa for Archer/Gaub/Stevens, so you'd have to take into account the opening at second. I meant had we kept things as were. DeRosa would have been at second.

Oh....yeah the one that worked for the Cardinals and was obviously on this board to pick up guys. How could I forget her? Is that the one who started the Pujols on the decline thread?

As much against the Bradley signing as I was, probably the worst thing that could have happened to Bradley was him being hyped as a big-time power hitting "RBI machine" who would slug like crazy in the middle of our lineup. When healthy he's generally been a very productive player, but more in the Fukudome way and not in the Adam Dunn way. People probably would have been more accepting of him had they expected a better (though less healthy) version of Kosuke rather than the next Sammy Sosa. I don't think it mattered whether the fans accepted him or not. It wasn't the fans that got to him (and if it was, I wish they would have got on him even more because he was really good at home and terrible on the road). The Cubs signed a guy with severe mental issues, so it really wasn't a surprise when he went off considering he was on a losing team with a manager like Lou. It was a gamble by Hendry that, predictably, didn't pay off. In hindsight, the best thing to do probably would have been to simply keep the 97 win team together, and if a need came along, fill it during the season. Unfortunately, those 3 fateful games in October yielded a knee jerk reaction that the team wasnt left handed enough, and we needed a lefty. Several were available, but none were particularly impressive. Bradley was probably the best overall player of the bunch, but was both physically and mentally fragile, both of which came out in his short time as a Cub. From an offensive standpoint, theres no question that Adam Dunn was the best choice, however, there were legit concerns about his fielding ability, and to this day, I dont think that right field at Wrigley would have been the best place for him. I wonder how things would have turned out if theyd just tried to squeeze a but more juice out of Jim Edmonds in 2009 and kept Pie in Iowa as insurance. Pie was out of options. Another example of the kind of non-obvious damage that can occur when incentives are misaligned. Hendry knew that Piniella wouldn't commit to Pie. But Lou is gone and Pie just turned 26 and has been decently productive in the AL East. And that roster spot ended up going to Joey Gathright who eventually morphed into Ryan Freel. That offseason was just a series of awful moves and decisions. At the end of 2008, we already knew that Fukudome was streaky, so we should have had a viable 4th outfielder. Had we kept Pie, he wouldnt have exactly been wasting away on the bench. Still, there was no reason to ever sign Aaron Miles or Joey Gathright. We could have kept Edmonds and Pie, and then Reed Johnson as the 5th outfielder. The bench would have been Fontenot, Johnson, Edmonds/Pie, Hill, and some utility middle infielder.

As much against the Bradley signing as I was, probably the worst thing that could have happened to Bradley was him being hyped as a big-time power hitting "RBI machine" who would slug like crazy in the middle of our lineup. When healthy he's generally been a very productive player, but more in the Fukudome way and not in the Adam Dunn way. People probably would have been more accepting of him had they expected a better (though less healthy) version of Kosuke rather than the next Sammy Sosa. I don't think it mattered whether the fans accepted him or not. It wasn't the fans that got to him (and if it was, I wish they would have got on him even more because he was really good at home and terrible on the road). The Cubs signed a guy with severe mental issues, so it really wasn't a surprise when he went off considering he was on a losing team with a manager like Lou. It was a gamble by Hendry that, predictably, didn't pay off. In hindsight, the best thing to do probably would have been to simply keep the 97 win team together, and if a need came along, fill it during the season. Unfortunately, those 3 fateful games in October yielded a knee jerk reaction that the team wasnt left handed enough, and we needed a lefty. Several were available, but none were particularly impressive. Bradley was probably the best overall player of the bunch, but was both physically and mentally fragile, both of which came out in his short time as a Cub. From an offensive standpoint, theres no question that Adam Dunn was the best choice, however, there were legit concerns about his fielding ability, and to this day, I dont think that right field at Wrigley would have been the best place for him. I wonder how things would have turned out if theyd just tried to squeeze a but more juice out of Jim Edmonds in 2009 and kept Pie in Iowa as insurance.

Arent they still trying to win it for Harry?

Am I alone in my thinking that despite the brutal spring training, Blake DeWitts probably the best choice for starting 2B out of the 3 headed monster?

He was originally claimed off waivers from the Rangers by the Red Sox, but they couldnt work out a deal. Rangers pulled him back, and put him back on waivers a bit later and we claimed him.

I sincerely hope that Garzas spring training has been nothing more than working on his stuff.

I'm willing to give Grabow another chance, assuming he's in a lesser role. Whoe knows, maybe last years suckiness was injury related. He never deserved the 8mil deal, but maybe he can be decent middle relief.